Link Love (2015-10-31)

Thought-provoking

“For the sake of honest disclosure, I will admit to owning “purebreds” (the ‘pureness’ of purebreeds is a discussion for another time) but I also have mutts. All the dogs I’ve had since childhood had a few things in common, they were friendly, prey driven, ball-crazy, intense, motivated, athletic (crazy dogs are easier to train) and none had intentionally bred defects. I would never buy/adopt a dog whose breed characteristics exacted a health burden.(Asher 2009). That just incentivizes people to breed more of these intentionally unhealthy animals. The dogs on the left are from the 1915 book, ‘Breeds of All Nations‘ by W.E. Mason. The examples on the right are modern examples from multiple sources. To be able to make an honest comparison, I’ve chosen pictures with similar poses and in a couple of cases flipped the picture to get them both aligned in the same direction. I had to skip some breeds I wanted to include because of the lack of detail in the older photographs.” 100 Years of Breed “Improvement” – Science and Dogs

“Take gyms. They advertise themselves as routes to fitness, yet in most cases their business model rests on monetising laziness: if most people made good use of their monthly subscriptions, the cost of providing space and equipment would lead to bankruptcy. Another example: insider traders get prosecuted, because they profit from secret data that others can’t access. But when Facebook uses internal data from millions of users to display the perfect ad for you – targeted to push psychological buttons you didn’t know you had – is that so different? Some sites now display different prices to different shoppers, based on what their online behaviour suggests they’ll be willing to pay, which is somehow both a) entirely sensible and b) utterly outrageous.” Exploiting gullible people is a modern form of mining – The Guardian

“Recognizing what it really looks like is about being able to notice what’s quiet. And noticing what’s quiet is difficult when there is a lot of noise happening – and of course I don’t mean plain old SOUND noise. Mostly I mean EMOTIONAL noise.” the reality is much quieter – the dirty normal

Equality

“There is nothing progressive about the IDF, where soldiers of any sexuality violate human rights. They pull Palestinians from their homes in the middle of the night and hold them indefinitely without trial. There is nothing progressive about last summer’s bombing of Gaza, where Israel killed over 2,000 Gazans, over 50% of them civilians and over 500 children, plus thousands more wounded and disabled. And there is nothing just about the IDF’s actions: while Israel state media justifies everything in the name of security, in reality it is the entrenched military occupation and Israel’s de facto apartheid rule over the non-Jewish Palestinian population of the West Bank and Gaza which is the biggest threat to life and property. And with the recent horrible attack on the Jerusalem pride parade, deep rooted bigotry in Israeli society at large is rearing its head more than ever. Recent investigative videos show that, even casually walking down the street, gay men face homophobia.
Life is not safe under occupation and apartheid for Palestinians, whether they are women, LGBT, or even vegan. It’s an intense double standard to lift up diversity in the IDF while ignoring the horrible quality of life for Palestinians of every gender and sexuality under occupation. All the positive tweets in the world about women and gay soldiers won’t make up for that.” What’s feminist about women & queer folks in the Israeli army? – Feministing

Inspirational

“For the longest time, I equated “self-care” with “selfish”. I thought it was the domain of people who had far too much time and money on their hands and the realm of people who were self-indulgent. All in all, I saw it as something that was quite embarrassing and cringe-worthy.
Now I know different.
I know that it’s not about time, nor about money. I know there is a big difference between self-care and self-indulgence. And, I definitely know that we show up more fully and are nicer people to be around when we’re taking care of our needs.” Why the World Needs You to Thrive – Becoming Who You Are

“Not everyone can come to my classes to write through trauma in a supportive group setting, so I decided when I started teaching that I would provide my core in-class resources on my site. I believe writing is an excellent tool in the self-care kit. I’ve put these posts in an order that you can use as an in-home syllabus. Consider working with one post per week, and complementing it with prompts from the linked page (see below).” 10 Free Resources for Creating a Writing Practice for Self Care – The Honeyed Quill

Chronic Pain & Illness

“Daily meditation practice helps people stay focused on the present moment and feel more connected to the divine. However, meditation is more than just a disconnected spiritual practice — it actually helps improve your health. Among other benefits, meditation can help people control pain and inflammation in their body, and researchers are finally starting to understand why.
One reason meditation is so effective is due to its influence over the vagus nerve, which is found in the brainstem and stretches down through the organs in the abdominal cavity. A major role of the vagus is to control inflammation all over the body.” Activate Your Vagus Nerve to Stave Off Pain and Inflammation – Reset.me

“8. Don’t feel bad if you have to cancel plans at the last minute, I understand
One of the constant feelings that comes along with a chronic illness is feeling guilty or like you are a burden to people in your life. I always feel terrible for canceling plans, and I sometimes do it at the latest possible moment because I am hoping I will feel better. And I sometimes beat myself up about it, even though it’s out of my control. I know this is common for people with chronic illnesses. Letting them know you don’t hold it against them will help alleviate that guilt. And it will make them more likely to make plans with you in the future, because they won’t be afraid of losing you as a friend if they cancel on you too often.” 10 Things You Should Say to Someone With a Chronic Illness – Pins and Procrastination

Health

“I’m going to do something a little different today. I’m going to look critically at conventional wisdom, but of a different sort: the kind espoused by the alternative health crowd.
Now, I’m usually sympathetic to them. We align in many ways, perhaps more often than not. We both prefer organic food, wild seafood, and sustainably-raised livestock. We both understand the benefits of smart sun exposure, spending time in nature, and getting ample amounts of sleep. But when it comes to conventional alternative wisdom regarding genetic modification of food — that it makes food unsafe and unhealthy — I have to put on my skeptic’s hat and take a closer look. This is what I do. And don’t worry; in doing so, I’ll also explore the flip side — that GMOs are absolutely, perfectly safe.” Is Conventional Wisdom About GMO Safety Correct? – Mark’s Daily Apple

“So I did some research and for some reason ended up reading all about cloth pads and how they differed from regular pads. This is the part where the light bulb starts flashing…I found out that regular pads and tampons contain chlorine, something I’m very allergic to! No wonder by body hated me every month, I was basically subjecting it to torture, poor thing.” “Naturalizing” Your Feminine Hygiene Routine – Little House Living

“In order to healthfully sustain any eating plan, you have to be two things: you have to be forgiving, and you have to be open to change.You have to be forgiving because you are human. Some days will not be “perfect.” In fact, I encourage you to throw the whole notion of “perfect” in this sense completely out the window. Having a meal plan doesn’t mean strictly adhering to a set of numbers. It instead means setting guidelines, and choosing to do your best to meet them as much as possible.” How to Track Food Intake without Being Obsessive – Paleo for Women

“The main point of the story here is to stick to your list. Regardless of whether you meal plan (although I still advocate that it saves you both time and money in the long run), you need to make a grocery list at the very least. This includes little pit stops at the grocery store to pick up something you forgot. I’d even go so far as to say that the list is even more important on those little pit stops, because that’s when temptation can really set in. “I only need to pick up this one item… I feel like I should buy more… Maybe I’ll grab a few other things, just to have on hand.” If you meal planned, then you know exactly what you need, and you only need to have those things on hand. This goes for snacks, too. I even plan out my snacks, because I do occasionally want one, and if I don’t have anything readily available or appetizing, then I’ll just go hungry until the next meal, to be honest. This is where I used to get caught spending unnecessary money, though: buying pre-made, Paleo-friendly snacks at the grocery store, like Larabars and Bearded Bros. bars.” Guest Post by The Whole Life Balance: Maintaining Your Grocery Budget – The Paleo Mom

Foodie

“His appetite for tea was limitless. Presumably, Shelley would have loved to load his cup with sugar — he had a strong sweet tooth. Except that in his lifetime, sugar came to epitomize the evils of slavery. In the liberal circles Shelley moved in, eating sugar was about as acceptable as displaying tusks of ivory in one’s living room is today.” How Percy Shelley Stirred His Politics Into His Teacup – The Salt

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1 Comment

Hello, great read Becky. If it’s okey i just wanna add something about the equality.
In the real world women need equality. This includes, among other things, equal opportunity, equal pay for comparable work, equal access to affordable care for their dependents, and equal freedom from intimate violence. Because the real world is where women live, and women are human beings, just like you are, and are entitled to all the same rights, responsibilities, and privileges that you have.